When TikToker Mariah (@madammodspiercing) was 12 years old, her entire immediate family went on a cruise and left her behind. At this point in her life, she alternated between living at her mom’s and dad’s each week.
For a whole year, her stepmother and dad had been planning to go on a cruise. They told her and her two brothers that they were going and that it would be a really cool, fun experience.
Throughout the year, her brothers received new luggage and Hawaiian shirts for the trip. None of that stuff was purchased for her, but she didn’t think much of it at the time. They were just all so excited.
“I lived in severe poverty with my mom,” she explained. “We lived well below the poverty line, so to go do something like a cruise was hands down, genuinely the coolest experience that I had ever thought I would have in my entire life.”
When the week of the cruise finally rolled around, she was beyond ecstatic. Her dad and stepmom told her that they would pick her up from her mom’s house to go on the cruise.
So, she packed all her stuff and sat on the porch for hours, waiting for her family. She sat outside until the sun went down.
After several hours, she realized they were not coming. She finally went inside, thinking that maybe they would come in the morning. They didn’t show up the next day. By then, she knew they were on a plane without her, and all her hopes were shattered.
“The window for me going on this cruise has long since closed,” Mariah stated. “So, they go on their cruise, I stay home with my mom, I cry the whole week, and I’m completely heartbroken.”
A couple of weeks later, her family returned from their vacation and picked her up for their scheduled court-ordered visitation. When her stepmom pulled up, she ran outside and angrily asked her what had happened.
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With her head down, her stepmom told her that they didn’t have enough money to take her along.
Afterward, she saw tons of pictures of all the activities they did during the cruise, including snorkeling, diving, and a bunch of other things she had wanted to do.
She had to spend the foreseeable future listening to everyone talk about how incredible their cruise experience was. They all had new outfits, jewelry, and souvenirs.
Mariah’s stepmom eventually told her that she was short $400 for her part of the cruise. To her stepmom, part of the problem was that Mariah’s mom wouldn’t cover any of the costs.
“I just didn’t get to go because my mom wouldn’t pay,” Mariah said.
“My mom couldn’t afford a slice of bread at this point in time, let alone $400 for one child to go on a cruise with. On my mom’s best day, she wasn’t pulling that off, and she shouldn’t have been expected to because she’s not the one who invited me on a cruise.”
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
